ahhh! i know...
we have non-existent problems "solved" with IT which makes a mess
of it all too!
give you an example.. the Annual Leave system.. we send in papers,
the leave clerk updates the thing in a simple UNIX-based online
system in about 5 seconds, files that leave form in our files..
total time taken 3 minutes (inclusive of looking for the
file)
someone decided to "automate" the system...
now, we have to wait until the accursed thing is online (7am to 6pm
weekdays, 7am to 3pm saturdays, sundays and public holidays, not
online)
we then type everything in, leaving out the days off and weekends
and public holidays (so if i take 10 days with weekends and public
holidays and days off in between, i have to break it up into little
blocks)
key in the people which are supposed to approve the leave, click
"enter" and pray that it gets through...
we then print out the thing for reference in case the system goes
down..
if it's approved, okay.. good.. then the backroom stuff
starts..
the leave clerk gets it online and prints out a copy of it for
reference and files it away in the file.. then goes and updates the
old system (brutal truth, the UNIX system hasn't died in more than
10 years, while the web-based one has died a few hundred times in 1
1/2 years)
and we paid a heck of a lot of money to "automate" a system by
causing a hell of a lot more work...
the stupidity of it all is amazing 
